Vietnam national football team
The Vietnam national football team (Vietnamese: Đội tuyển bóng đá quốc gia Việt Nam) is the national football team representing Vietnamin international football competitions and is managed by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). During the late 1950s, known by the name South Vietnam national football team it was one of the four strongest teams in Asia and advanced into the final round of 1956 AFC Asian Cup, 1960 AFC Asian Cup, finishing 4th both times. The team also won 10th Merdeka Tournament in Malaysia, 1966. While Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam, two national teams existed and both were controlled by similar Vietnam Football Associations. After the two countries unified in 1976 the Vietnam Football Associations was renamed to VFF. Currently, Vietnam is one of the most successful teams in Southeast Asia. In the FIFA World Rankings, Vietnam's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in September 1998, at 84th. It won the ASEAN Football Championship in 2008. The team is currently ranked 112nd in the world, 17th in Asia and 1st in Southeast Asia by FIFA (as of 21 December 2017). History Early history The introduction of football into Vietnam traced its roots in 1896 during the era of colonial French Cochinchina (Vietnamese: Nam Kỳ). At the early stage, the sport are only played among French civil servants, merchants and soldiers. The French then encouraged local Vietnamese to played football and several other sports that were introduced to them to divert their interest from politics which resulting the sport being spread to other regions, mostly the northern and central region.2 On 20 July 1908, the newspaper Southern Luc Tan Van reported the match between two local Vietnamese teams for the first time. A first football guidebook then published in 1925 by a local Vietnamese doctor named Pham Van Tiec to attract the interest among Vietnamese youngsters.3 By 1928, the Vietnamese had established the Annamite Sports Bureau and in the same year they sent a Vietnamese football team to compete in Singapore. More local football clubs then established in both northern and southern Vietnam although it was not until after the World War II that football clubs in the region started to become more organised.4 Two Vietnam era Two national football teams then existed when Vietnam was divided into South Vietnam and North Vietnam. The team from the South participated in the first two AFC Asian Cup finals (1956 AFC Asian Cup and 1960 AFC Asian Cup) and finished in fourth place both times. They won the first Southeast Asian Games in 1959 in Thailand. The team also entered qualification for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, beating Thailand 1–0 to qualify the classification matches before losing their group opening matches by 0–4 to Japan and 0–1 to Hong Kong. Hong Kong and Japan then advanced but neither got any farther, losing play-offs for the next round to South Korea and Israel respectively. The team played their last game against Malaysia in 1975 where they lost 0–3. Meanwhile, the team from the North was less active, often playing against other Communist states between 1956 and 1966. They had their first match against China PR where they lost 3–5 under head coach Truong Tan Buu. They participated in the first GANEFO (Games of the New Emerging Forces) competitions at Indonesia in 1962 and Cambodia in 1966. Both team ceased to exist when the North and South regions were combined together into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War.5 Post civil war and redevelopment era Professional football league known as the All Vietnam Football Championship was launched in 1980 to redevelop Vietnamese football after a long period of civil war. In 1989, following the Đổi Mới reforms, a new football federation was formed. Vietnamese sports began to return to international events. After three months of preparation, in August 1989, the First Congress of the new football federation took place in Hanoi, declaring the formation of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF). Trịnh Ngọc Chữ, deputy minister of General Department of Sports, was elected president of VFF and Lê Thế Thọ was appointed as the vice-president.78 The reunified Vietnam national football team then played their first match against the Philippines in 1991 where they had a draw.1 In 1996, along with other Southeast Asian teams, Vietnam participated in the first Tiger Cup where they finished in third place. Vietnam hosted the second Tiger Cup in 1998 where they lose 0–1 to Singapore in the final. 2007 AFC Asian Cup co-host and revival Vietnam hosted the 2007 AFC Asian Cup for the first time along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. They beat the UAE 2–0 and drew 1–1 with Qatar in the group stage.9 Though they lost 1–4 to Japan, they were able to go on to quarter-finals and were the only host and only Southeast Asian team to reach quarter-finals. In the quarter final they were defeated by the latter champion Iraq by 0–2.10 2008 AFF Championship triumph Scenes during the final of 2008 AFF Championship. Clockwise from top: Vietnamese supporters during Vietnam's triumph, Vietnamese team receiving the cup and Vietnamese team before the second leg final matches. In the 2008 AFF Championship (which is a successor tournament of the Tiger Cup), Vietnam were held in Group B together with Thailand, Malaysia and Laos. Though losing 0–2 in their first match against Thailand, the Vietnamese team bounce back and defeating Malaysia by 3–2 before a large victory of 4–0 against Laos.11 In the semi-finals, Vietnam hold the defending champion Singapore by 0–0 in a home match before winning 1–0 in an away match.11 In the finals, they meet Thailand again and finally managed to defeat them by 2–1 in an away match before drawing 1–1 in a home match by a score from Lê Công Vinh through a free-kick by Nguyễn Minh Phương, thus winning the tournament with an aggregate of 3–2.1112 2009–15: drought Vietnam team in the semi-final of the first leg of 2010 AFF Championshipmeeting Malaysia national football team. Vietnam had continued its participation to seek the quests to become champions twice at the regional AFF Championship and to gain tickets entering the AFC Asian Cup. However neither efforts was successful in these tournaments and even during 2012–15, Vietnam suffered a serious setback at football. The repeated failure of the team has made some senior Vietnamese players to lose their confidence as the team remains poorly performing in international stage during these period. 2016–now: hope and resurgence With the success of its youth teams, notably the Vietnam national under-20 football team and Vietnam national under-23 football team by qualifying the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup and reaching the final of 2018 AFC U-23 Championship tournament for the first time, this has brought a significant and positive influences to Vietnamese senior team. The senior team begun to play a better football than years ago suffering drought. During 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Vietnam, after managed two draws against Afghanistan and Jordan, had repeatedly defeated its neighbour, Cambodia, both away and home matches. Vietnam was having a big chance to qualify to an international tournament since the 2007 AFC Asian Cup which Vietnam was a co-host, if they didn't lose to Afghanistan later. On 14 November 2017, after managed to hold Afghanistan with a 0–0 draw, Vietnam managed to qualify to the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in its history. Team imageedit Kitsedit Vietnam's current kit sponsor is Grand Sport. The contract started in January 2015 which will end by the end of December 2019. Vietnam was also previously sponsored by Nike, Adidas and Li-Ning. The tradition home colour for the Vietnamese team is all red with yellow trim and the away colour is all white with red trim ever since they started the contract with Nike. With Adidas, it was just red and white. Occasionally, the team wore blue and yellow jerseys. Groundsedit Mỹ Đình National Stadium (Vietnamese: Sân vận động Quốc gia Mỹ Đình) is a stadium in Mỹ Đình commune, Từ Liêm District, 10 kilometres north-west of central Hanoi, has a capacity of 40,192 seats and is the centrepiece of Vietnam's National Sports Complex. It was officially opened in September 2003 and was the main venue for the Southeast Asian Games along the same year, hosting the opening and closing ceremony as well as the men's football and athletics events. The stadium is home to the national football team, and hosts its home and international matches. It is the second biggest stadium in the country and was built at a cost of US$53 million. Arched roofs cover the grandstands on the east and west sides of the arena, providing shelter for half of the seats. The area provides training facilities for the teams with two football training grounds conveniently located next to the stadium.14 Supporter There are two major supporters for the national team, namely VFS (Vietnamese: Hội CĐV Bóng đá Việt Nam) which was founded in 2014 and VGS (Vietnamese: Hội CĐV VGS) founded in 2017. Sponsorship Primary sponsors includes: * Yanmar1516 * Grand Sport17 * Suzuki Vietnam1819 * Sony Vietnam2021 * Z.com22 * VPMilk23 Local sponsors includes: * Eximbank (vi) * Petro Vietnam * Hoa Sen Group * Kova Paint * Next Media * Dong Luc Group * Viettel Mobile * Cuulong Steel * Thai Son Nam Group * Canh Buom Do Group * Huu Lien A Chau Joint-Stock Company Competitive recordsedit FIFA World Cupedit AFC Asian Cupedit Asian Gamesedit : Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002. See also: Vietnam national under-23 football team AFF Championshipedit Southeast Asian Gamesedit : Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2001. See also: Vietnam national under-23 football team Vietnam Football Federation Cupedit * (Vietnam and the U-23 Vietnam team take turns every other year representing as the host team.) Results and fixturesedit Win Draw Loss 2017edit ; Friendly ; 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round 2018edit ; 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – Third Round Players Current squad The following 23 players who were called up for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Afghanistan on 14 November 2017. Recent call-ups The following players have also been called up to the Vietnam squad within the last 12 months. Notes: * SUS Player suspended * INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury * RET Retired from the national team * WD Player withdrew from the squad for non-injury related reasons Previous squads Coaching staff Managers Coaches by years since 1991 Records Most capped players The list of the 16 players with the most caps for Vietnam. : As of 24 January 2018 * Players in bold are still active, at least at club level. Top goalscorers : As of 24 January 2018 * Players in bold are still active, at least at club level. Honours Continental * AFC Asian Cup ** Quarterfinals (1): 2007 Regional * AFF Championship : Champion (1): 2008 : Runner-up (1): 1998 : Third place/Semi-finalist (6): 1996, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016 * Southeast Asian Games : Runner-up (2): 1995, 1999 Other awards * King's Cup : Runner-up : 2006 * VFF Cup : Runner-up : 2004, 2006, 2008 : Third place : 2012 * AYA Bank Cup : Champion (1): 2016 Category:AFC international teams